LGBTQ+ Pride revelers sparkle with feathers and flags on the streets from New York to San Francisco
NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of exuberant protesters danced to club music on the streets of New York City Sunday as bubbles and confetti rained down, and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month’s grand crescendo.
New York’s boisterous crowd walked and danced down Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, cheering and waving rainbow flags to celebrate the 1969 Stonewall Rebellionwhere a police raid on a gay bar sparked days-long protests and sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
While some people celebrated, many were aware of the growth conservative counter-movementincluding new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender children.
“I try not to be very political, but when it affects my community, I get very annoyed and very hurt,” said Ve Cinder, a 22-year-old transgender woman who traveled from Pennsylvania to participate in the nation’s largest Pride event. .
“I’m just scared for my future and for my trans siblings. I’m afraid of how this country has looked at human rights, basic human rights,” she said. “It’s crazy.”
Parades in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are among the events held this year by approximately 400 Pride organizations in the US, many of which specifically focus on transgender rights.
One of the grand marshals of the New York City parade is nonbinary activist AC Dumlao, chief of staff of Athlete Ally, a group that champions LGBTQ+ athletes.
“Uplifting the trans community has always been at the heart of our events and programming,” said Dan Dimant, a spokesperson for NYC Pride.
San Francisco Pride, one of the largest and most well-known LGBTQ+ celebrations in the United States, drew tens of thousands of spectators to the city on Sunday.
Kicked off by the group Dykes on Bikes, the event featured dozens of colorful floats, some of which carry a strong message against the wave of anti-transgender legislation in state homes across the country.
Organizers told the San Francisco Chronicle that this year’s theme emphasized activism. The parade included that of the country first drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger.
“As we walk through the world more authentically and fantastically, we inspire everyone,” Drollinger said over a breakfast before the parade.
Along Market Street, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank spotted driving together.
In Chicago, 16-year-old Maisy McDonough painted rainbow colors over her eyes and on her face for her first Pride parade.
She told the Chicago Tribune she is delighted to be “united” after a difficult year for the community.
“We really need the love of this parade,” she said.
On Saturday, first lady Jill Biden appeared at the Pride parade in Nashville, Tennessee, where she told the crowd “loud and clear that you belong, that you are beautiful, that you are loved.”
Many other cities held their marquees earlier this month, including Boston, which hosted the first parade after a three-year hiatus that began with COVID-19 but was extended to 2022 as the organization running the parade dissolved under criticism that it was racially inappropriate. excluded exclusions. minorities and transgender people.
A key message this year was that LGBTQ+ communities must unite against dozens, if not hundreds, of bills now pending in state houses across the country.
Lawmakers in 20 states have taken steps to ban gender-affirming care for children, and at least seven others are considering doing the same, adding further urgency to the transgender community, proponents say.
“We are under threat,” organizers of Pride events in New York, San Francisco and San Diego said in a statement joined by about 50 other Pride organizations across the country. “The diverse dangers we face as an LGBTQ community and Pride organizers, while different in nature and intensity, share a common trait: they seek to undermine our love, our identity, our freedom, our safety and our lives.”
Earlier on Sunday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that would make the state a “safe haven” for transgender youth and prohibit law enforcement from providing information that could undermine a child’s ability to receive gender-affirming care .
NYC Mayor Adams took a similar step this week by issuing an executive order barring city resources from being used to cooperate with out-of-state authorities to detain anyone receiving gender-affirming care in the city .
The Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, a national LGBTQ+ organization, reported 101 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the first three weeks of this month, about twice as many as in the entire month of June last year.
Sarah Moore, who analyzes extremism for the two civil rights groups, said many of the incidents coincided with Pride events.
Nevertheless, Roz Gould Keith, who has a transgender son, has been heartened by the increased visibility of transgender people at marches and celebrations across the country.
“When my son asked to go to Motor City Pride a decade ago, there was nothing for the trans community,” said Keith, founder and executive director of Stand with Trans, a group created to support and support young trans people and their families. to make stronger. .
This year, she said, the event was “packed” with trans people.
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AP writers Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California; James Pollard in Columbia, South Carolina; Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
